Flesh for Bones
by bloomingauthor7
Summary: LukeThalia. Angsty songfic. Oneshot. Please read and review!


**Ok, I wrote this quite quickly, and I'll probably end up revising it, but here it is… I recommend the song. It's by Terra Naomi on Youtube: **

** pretty much self explanatory: Luke/Thalia. Please read and review!**

_Come to me, child. Forget the arrogant immortals, who sit foolishly confident on their cursed peak, content in their illusions of invincibility. Together we can improve upon this great world, repair the mistakes the Twelve have made. Join me! What have they done for you? I will improve upon it doubly, three fold. What have you to lose?_

Thalia, he called, starting from his sleep. Thalia. It seemed no one had heard, which was remarkable in the packed masses of his father's cabin; but he shook it off and turned over, trying to fall back asleep, yet still dreading the voice he knew would torment him.

**I'm sitting here frozen in this bed I made****Considering the weight of the bricks I laid now that I'm through****One by one sealed every crack that I could slip between to find my way back****Find my way back home to you**

_The girl? I can bring her back, you know. I can steal her from the grip of__ the overconfident Lord of Death;__ under his very helm of Darkness. __You can show her the wisdom of our ways. She__ will join us and together__ we can make this world perfect, for you to share._

If Luke really thought about it, he knew she would never join them. She would call him crazy, evil, be full of electric-shock anger, shooting out at him from enchanting blue eyes. But what he would give to see those eyes again… So he just didn't think about it.

**And I'm burning all my bridges ****with these matches I light****To illuminate my path to what is right****And even if it's true what they say ****that you can't go back home ****once you've cast it away****I would still have left tonight**

If he went on this intangible thought of whether she, or anyone else, would approve, he was throwing away all hope of ever seeing her again. And he was fairly certain he was not strong enough to live with that heartbreak. So he pulled away from the first family to accept him, the father he had once yearned to please, the friends who admired him easily. He knew there was no turning back, but he didn't care. He urged himself forward towards an image of stellar smile, short, dark curls, and captivating eyes the color of the brightest desert sky… And he didn't look back.**You know baby I would be with you if I could****To**** trade my flesh for your bones ****I would, I would, I would, I would, I would…**

Please, please don't be angry, he reasoned with her, or with himself, as she of course could not hear, however she may endure with evergreen sub-existence. Forgive me. Forgive me. Forgive me. He would give his life for her. But now he was taking the coward's route, and giving up his livelihood.**I carry with me on my way****All the ghosts of all the love ****that I let slip away****The heavy weight of promises made****That if I could exonerate****I might just lift off today**

Never, never, he had said. Never. I will never let anyone hurt you, I swear upon the River Styx, I love you, I love you…

He had broken those promises. He had let her give her life away. He had walked away: ran, really, leaving her to die on a hill, alone. He would have to live with this for the rest of his life. But now there was a way out, a way to bring her back, and he couldn't give it up, and live haunted by the endless memories… He wished to be rid of them, but lived in constant fear of forgetting.**And I'm burning all my bridges ****with these matches I light****To illuminate my path to what is right****And even if it's true what they say ****that you can't go back home ****once you've cast it away****I would still have left tonight**

He said goodbye silently, living like a dying man: kinder, more generous, more _admirable, _to try and burn away the terrible guilt that ate at him: for the first mistake of letting her go, and the second of letting the rest go on a hope he felt in his heart was too good to be true.

**You know baby I would be with you if I could****To trade my flesh for your bones ****I would, I would, I would, I would, I would…****I chased your memory from my mind****But every song I write is just a wish to find you, near or far****Through all the tears and all the time****That I been running blind****I still ain't got to where you are**

Later he would shake with the grief and the knowledge that he had failed. She had chosen them, cast him away with words that cut to his core, and hurt more than being hurled from a cliff.

"I don't know you anymore."

**And I'm burning all my bridges ****with these matches I light****To illuminate my path to what is right****And even if it's true what they say ****that you can't go back home ****once you've cast it away****I would still have left tonight****You know baby I would be with you if I could****To trade my flesh for your bones ****I would, I would, I would, I would, I would…**

But, for now, he was free from that knowledge, and he had to try to do what seemed right. He had always been an incurable idealist, but it couldn't be helped. So he burned his bridges, and he walked away.


End file.
